I just got my binder from lesloveboat. I didn't have much to start with, but man it looks so much better now, and I'm so comfortable. No more elastic for me. Loving it! Will post pics when my camera is charged

I've learned a lot from reading this thread. XD. The first of which is not to use Ace bandages. I'm so glad I kept forgetting to buy them. D:.
Anyway... while my next crossplay isn't the first I've done (I crossplayed Alec O. Howell from Ceres: Celestial Legend, Sora from .hack//SIGN, and Ashton from Star Ocean 2), it's the first time I'll actually be binding. You see, the other times I didn't have any problems with my boobs showing through my clothes, even without binding (they just don't show very much in general, so I figured I could just get away with it. And did ^^. Since this will be the first time I feel it may be necessary (I REALLY want to be accurate), I'd like to get an opinion on whether or not what I'm considering doing is what is best.
Right now, I'm strongly leaning towards the sports bra method, because it's the most discreet method on the list (I'm packing my clothes for the convention in the same luggage as my brothers' and my mom's, and I don't want questions if I can avoid it. ^^;;.) But I'm not 100% sure I'm small enough chested to get away with it without too much difficulty--I'm only a 48B, so I don't know why I couldn't, but I just want to make sure. Will it work for me? Or should I do something different?
Thanks in advance for any answers .

Ashton: I'm a 36C and I have a compression sport bra that's probably one size too small for me and it works almost as good as my tri-top. A good sport bra, especially one that is specifically designed to compress, will probably work for you. I found mine at Target. It's a Champion brand and is called a Compression sport bra. It looks like a regular sport bra. Hopefully it's not too hard to find. GL!

You can always try one on in the store and see how it works - no obligation to buy.

I've tried on a lot of sports bras and nothing really works for me, but it depends not only on size but the consistency of the tissue (some are easier to "squish" than others). At 48B you might be able to get away with it - might as well give it a try for free !

The tri-top could be passed off as a sports bra, I think, if you do end up needing it - it's really boring and innocuous looking. Or you could roll it up and put it inside something else.

For those who have ordered from Underworks, how were on shipping the order out? I ask because I ordered a month ago and I have not received my binder or even a shipping notice. I e-mailed them but they haven't responded yet. All the reviews I can find only talk about the binder itself and not the company's service.

I tried calling their 800 number but it went to voicemail. At the time I made my previous post, I wrote the e-mail Sunday morning so I was able to rationalize it by assuming they don't work on Sunday. But since Monday has come and gone, it makes me worried. My dad said he'd talk to the bank on disputing the transaction tomorrow. Now I wish I had used paypal, so I could easily just file a dispute.

Thank you for this post--I wish this would have been here the first time I crossplayed!!

I can speak from personal experience that Ace bandages are an incredibly bad idea. I walked around a con in the middle of summer with decreased ability to breathe. I didn't realize just what I'd done until after the fact.

I then tried three sports bras--it did a similar thing, though not quite as bad. But still ill-advised.

Last con, I tried something that was mostly effective. I combined the open-shirt method with the sports bra. I used sports tape to shape my breasts to look more masculine, then popped a nude sports bra on top to hide the taping as well as to provide another layer of "padding down." It wasn't too uncomfortable--I'd actually forgotten about it while at the con--but it's worth noting that the tape removal caused some pretty painful skin peeling/rashing that took at least a week if not two to fully heal.

But if you're strapped for money and your breasts aren't too large, it's a pretty good method. Tape runs, what, $2-$3? And you can get sports bras for cheap at Walmart.

Question for anyone who's ordered recently from Underworks - is their packaging as discreet as they advertise? Nothing that would suggest that the contents are for crossplaying? (...people in my life who don't approve...)

It's always been one of those plain grey bags for me with "Simple Solutions" on it as the sender. Even the binder I ordered from China had really indecipherable packaging that just looked like I ordered random Chinese stuff from the internet (which I do anyway because it's cheap and I'm poor).